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In the fictional Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft the Great Race of Yith are aliens with enormous intellectual and psychic powers who escaped the destruction of their home planet by transfering their minds to the bodies of a species native to Earth in the far distant past. They lived on the planet for 200 million or so years, in constant competition with the Flying Polyps before this enemy finally destroyed their civilisation 50 million years ago.
On the Earth they were tall and cone-shaped, rising to a point with four strange appendages terminating in claws, 'trumpets' or a yellow globe which functioned as a sensory organ. The unique ability of the scientifically advanced race was to travel through time, by "body-switching" with a creature of another age. This allowed them to satisfy their interest in human culture, science and occult beliefs. Occupied beings, transfered to a Yith body against their will, were simultaneously queried for their knowledge. These beings were prisoners, but were granted some freedoms in exchange for their co-operation.
The Great Race escaped the destruction of their society by transfering their minds into the bodies of the 'beetle folk' who will become Earth's dominant species after humankind.
They are fully described in The Shadow Out of Time by Lovecraft.